Those pictures were taken between noon and 1:30pm. Not the best time to shoot at 1R.
Sun for runway 1R gets better at the end of October/ early November. Or shooting after 3pm, which means that you will miss all the international traffic.
Are those pictures were taken today? Looks like.

Look at this picture. It was also taken today (also runway 1R), but I did it around 5pm. That time sun is exactly behind your back and slowly going down.
No matter what you will do with your images, you will always get dark bottom and bright top on the pictures taken before 3pm at runway 1R.
You should also use sharpening function in your photo editing software.

The pictures were taken on September 4. I'll heed your advice next time about waiting till later in the year or going later in the day. It was my first time at Dulles, so I didn't really know what to expect. Lindy, what's your favorite place to spot at Dulles? I did Udvar-Hazy, but don't want to shell out $12 everytime I go.

Sounds good. I can't make it out there today- too much summer work to finish. I'll try to make it out there in the future though. Best of luck today, it's shaping up to be a beautiful day. Thanks for the recommendations.

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